LUTON History and Nostalgia
Good stuff.....When did the big fence go up? I recall it was there in 1976 as photography was a nightmare with an Kodak Instamatic! (so between 1972-1976 based on the L reg Cortina in the second DC8 pic!)
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About a year from Nov 2003. Started off operating to Venice, adding Cagliari and Rimini from 5/12/03, quickly diminishing to Cagliari only on Tue Thu and Fri for summer 2004, withdrew from the route on 30/10/04 then filed for bankruptcy the following month..
Gnome de PPRuNe
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Isn't that Croydon?
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Does anyone have any images or video of the 1997 event at Luton celebrating 40 years since the Canberra bomber world altitude record that was flown from Luton in 1957?
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/ta...ectric-co-ltd/
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/ta...ectric-co-ltd/
Does anyone have any images or video of the 1997 event at Luton celebrating 40 years since the Canberra bomber world altitude record that was flown from Luton in 1957?
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/ta...ectric-co-ltd/
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/ta...ectric-co-ltd/
Aviogenex flew from many UK airports in the main to - Pula, Krk Rijeka, Split, Tivat, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Ljubljana.
Sometimes 3 of their TU-134's would be seen on the deck at the same time - Def saw 2 at a time at LTN.
Prior to the breakup of Yugoslavia, Aviogenex was the busiest charter airline in the country, handling over half a million passengers per year in the late 1980s.
Aviogenex brought their first two Boeing 727-2L8 from the Yugoslav Air Force in 1983, and took delivery of 2 brand new 737-2K3 in 1987.
The Tu-134's were retired in 1990 leaving a newer fleet with 10 aircraft (5 Boeing 727-200 and 5 Boeing 737-200)
There was also Pan Adria Airways who had a sole new DC9 32 that also flew into the UK - they flew for a short time early 1970s -
No connection to Inex Adria.
Sadly on 23 May 1971 they suffered a bad crash to the brand new (111 hours) YU-AHZ Tupolev TU-134A operating Flight JJ130 at Rijeka (Krk Island)
Flying from Gatwick on a Yugotours Holidays flight with 76 pax and 7 crew the aircraft landed in a Thunderstorm.
There was a heavy downpour, accompanied by gusty winds/windshear on final approach.
The location of the new airport surrounded by mountains also caused additional difficulties for the crew. According to the Capt just before touchdown, the plane got caught into a powerful updraft, a critical situation immediately arose, and he stated it was not possible to take the right action to get out of it and he closed the throttles.
As a result, contact with the runway occurred with a very high vertical speed and the starboard main landing gear gave way, that wing broke and folded over, the plane then turned over "on its back" and scraped along the runway for 700m.
Fuel poured from damaged fuel tanks. An intense fire broke out, which the airport emergency fire services could not cope with.
75 passengers and 3 flight attendants were killed, the flight crew of 4 escaped from the cockpit side windows, and one passenger seated at the rear survived escaping from a hole in the rear cabin.
The investigation showed that most of the victims died of smoke inhalation, having survived the crash landing uninjured, but they remained trapped in the burning aircraft.
30% of the occupants were found still strapped upside down in their seats.
The 2 forward main Exits were both dislodged, distorted and became jammed, as did the cockpit door to the galley and cabin, thus the people could not get out, nor could rescuers gain access.
None of the four overwing exits were opened as this was the main area of fire initially, and those on the right side were blocked by the folded over stump of the right wing.
The British AAIB Inquiry who assisted the Yugoslav Investigation was damning in the lack of safety features on the Tupolev compared to their inspections of Inex Adria & JAT DC-9's also used by Yugotours.
Both Reports can be found online to read.
Last edited by rog747; 26th Oct 2020 at 09:32.
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Only regular series I know of was summer 1987 when they used a 727-200 on a Saturday from & to Pula. I have a vague recollection that their 737-200's also operated briefly in the late 1980's but the details elude me at the moment. Their TU-134A's were never regular but seemed to visit some weekends early-mid 70's during the winter months, arriving on a Friday as the JJ131, departing on a Sunday as the JJ132, from & to Belgrade. Shopping trips for well-off Yugoslavs I believe. Last TU-134 I saw was YU-AJD on 13/10/78, possibly a diversion as there was fog everywhere that day.
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Britannia?
Almost certainly Britannia, with the B767. The short LTN runway often meant that an enroute fuel stop was necessary, perhaps at Bangor, Maine. Soon after that, because of the cost & delay incurred by the stop, the MCO flights from LTN were ended. They continued from airports that could provide an assured non-stop operation.